Wagon-dash



A. LOBDELL. Wagon Dash.

No. 241,147. Patented May 10,1881.

UNHED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALONZO LOBDELL, OF RAOINE, WISCONSIN.

WAGON-DASH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,147, dated May 10, 1881.

Application filed November 22, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALoNzo LOBDELL, of Racine, county of Racine, State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Wagon-Dashes and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to the iron frame-work of a leather-covered wagon-dash; and it consists in the several features of construction hereinafter set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows the several parts of the frame detached, but proximately in their relative positions when joined. Fig. 2 shows, in perspective, the lower end of one of the upright parts of the frame provided with a longitudinal beveled slot intended to receive a correspondiugly-beveled nut, by which the dash is held to the foot, and also shows the 0015 by which the dash is secured to the wagonoc y.

My firstim provementrelates to the construction of the frame and the application of the cover. The horizontal portions 13 and O of the dash-frame are of oval bar-iron. The end uprights, A A, are of malleable iron, having the same size and sectional form as B U. The meeting ends of the marginal frame-pieces are rabbeted or beveled to join flush, as indicated in the drawings, and are secured to each other by rivets or screws passed through the overlap ping parts. At the bottom the end uprights are made wide enough to admit two screws or rivet-s each, whereby the frame is more securely and permanently held in rectangular form.

In applying the cover to the frame the two pieces of leather which form the two faces of the cover are or may be completely stitched, excepting the outer bottom seam, before the frame is inserted. The outer seam is then ripped for a short distance at the upper corners, to admit the top bar of the frame and to allow of its being riveted to the uprights afterinsertion. The bottom and end uprights, previously riveted together at their junctions, are then inserted from the bottom. If a middle bar be present, it may also be previously riveted to the bottom bar and inserted with the latter. \Vhen the parts of the frame have been thus forced within the cover the upper corners thereof are drawn outward into position through the ripped corners of the cover to receive the rivets or screws, which, being applied, hold the frame rigid and the cover taut. The corners and outer bottom seam are then stitched to complete the dash. The stitching being almost wholly done before inserting the frame, this can be done much more neatly and expeditiously than when done with the frame in place, thus materially reducing the cost and adding to the attractive appearance of the finished dash. Moreover, if any portion of the frame break in use, it can be readily replaced by simply opening the corners of the dash at which such broken part is joined, removing the fragments, and inserting and securing a new piece.

I am aware that a dash-frame has been made wherein the parts are joined, like gas pipe and fittings, by right and left hand threads; but said construction requires the use of couplings, which form enlarged and bungling corners and necessitates the use of round and larger frameiron than is needed for strength or is consistent with neatness of appearance. Moreover, not only are the clumsy corners necessarily exposed, but also some portion of the frame bars or rods between the leather and the couplings. In my construction, on the other hand, a simple, cheap, and practical method may be pursued in making the dash, and when completed it is not distinguishable from the ordinary construction, except by its greater neatness.

A second improvement relates to devices for securing the dash to the foot.

Itis customary, in the manufacture of dashes in quantities, to provide means whereby they may be secured with equal ease to varying widths of wagon-bodies.

It is the object of this second improvement to make the fastening of the dash to the foot externally invisible as well as adjustable. For this purpose I provide in the cast uprights A A in wardly-extended wings W W, having each a horizontal slot, T, beveled on the side opposite that to which the foot is applied, as shown in Fig. 1. I also provide a square and correspondingly-beveled nut, N, which sets in the slot flush with its open face. The nut is therefore wholly concealed by the dash-covering, which lies flatly over it in the general outer plane of the dash. In applying the dash to the body of the wagon the feet are first secured in place, and the inner thickness of the dash-covering is punctured over the slot T at the proper points opposite the holes h of the foot-upri ghts. By means of an awl or otherwise the nuts N are brought into position opposite the punctures, and a screw, S, is inserted through h into said nut. All parts of the dash-frame are thus entirely covered without indicating the position of the fastenin g-nuts on the outer face, or that the dash was not specially made for the body to which it is applied.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. The method described of manufacturing vehicle-dashes, consistin gin stitching the dashcover at the ends and top, next drawing it over the body or main portion of the dash-frame, then insertingthe top bar of the frame through openings or slits in the upper corners of the cover and securing said bar to the body of the frame, substantially as shown and described, 2. The combination of the dash-cover, open at bottom and having slits or openings at the upper corners, and the body of the dash-frame, open at the top and the top bar of the latter made detachable and adapted to be inserted in the cover and to be secured, as shown and described.

ALONZO LOBDELL. \Vitnesses:

ANTHONY MCAVOY, JOHN COFFEE. 

